When i pull the fork tubes off the 1956 FLH i need to know as what to look for in the old sliders that will make the new fork tubes work smoothly... i have no chatter when i use the front brake and not long ago i had the lower legs off and replaced the seals and felts too.....i cleaned the lower tubes and took them out in the sun light and looked inside to see what the upper slider bushings looked like...and they looked ok to me......No large scratches and wear looked normal....is their any thing that i need to look for as far as fit of the new upper fork tubes and damper units?
The new fork tubes are 2 inch over and came with the spacers..they are center ground and hard chromed and supposed to be USA made.

Mike, the 2" over tubes will affect the low speed agillity somewhat, I pulled mine off and went back to stock, noticed some improvement. One thing I did find when installing the new dampener assemblies into the Franks tubes was the snaprings that came with them were .008" thicker than the old ones and would not seat into the grooves completely. Wouldn't that suck having your sliders fall off when you hit those train tracks? My forks never used to "clunk" at topout but now that I went back to stock lenght and replaced the old springs with "Progressive" ones they do. I think the clunk is just the nature of the beast, and probably why later models used a "topout spring" between the dampener tube and the bottom of the fork tube. Good luck and let us know how you come out! Mike

Some buddies of mine back in the eighties did some experimenting. Our conclusion was simple. Original tubes are hard chrome plated. If you look at one closely you will see what looks like a cross-hatch pattern similar to a newly rebuilt engine cylinder. This forms a seal to the bushing. Every front end that banged back we found had show chrome tubes. That smooth finish leaves no seal. Forking by Frank can still give you the good tubes. I also found that I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t like the way the factory reamer finishes the job. I prefer to have the bushings pulled and inserted by some one else but thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s were it ends. I prefer using a dingel berry hone with honing fluid. You can get one from McMaster-Carr for twenty bucks. Using this hone also leaves a cross-hatch on the bushing surface. Well thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s it for todayÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s science project. Bob and Katie Dog.